On the north bank of the Huaihe River, there is the camp of the Southern Army.
Zhou Shizhong, who fled back to the north bank in embarrassment, sat in the commander's tent with a gloomy look. Next to him, Taoist Priest Yu Zhenzi didn't look good either.
After a period of silence, Yu Zhenzi glanced at Zhou Shizhong and said slowly: "General, now that the matter is over, should we report it to the court?"
"Report?"
Zhou Shizhong glanced at the demon, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice: "What kind of reporting method? Your Majesty has made such a great determination. The imperial edict said that we must defeat the Huai'an Army on the south bank at all costs. Now we So many people were lost, and we didn’t even see the walls of Huai’an City!”
"How do you report this?"
Yuzhenzi stroked his beard and asked, "General, do you want to fight again?"
Zhou Shizhong's face was gloomy: "I will beat him even if I don't beat him. If I don't beat him, Shen Qi will be hurt. I have no way to explain it to His Majesty."
"Previously, it was already the last chance."
Yu Zhenzi shook his head slightly and said: "It was easy to gain a foothold on the south bank before, and I could transport troops there calmly, but now I have been forced back by the Southerners. The Southern Dynasty's shipbuilding skills are far better than ours, and the Huai'an Army also has many warships. If you want to gain a foothold again, how many people will die in Duoduo?"
"and…"
Yu Zhenzi lowered his head slightly and said: "Also, although Zhao Lu's Huaihe Navy has withdrawn now, if the general attacks Huai'an again, who can guarantee that the Huaihe Navy will not come again?"
Yu Zhenzi counted the accounts with his fingers.
"The Huaihe Navy now has a full 100,000 people. Behind the Huai'an Army are the Imperial Guards of the Southern Dynasty, which also number 50,000 or 60,000 people. The troops sent by the imperial court, plus the Southern Army, originally numbered nearly 200,000, but this After more than a year of wear and tear, how much is left now?”
Yu Zhenzi lowered his eyebrows and said, "I'm afraid it's not much more than the army of the Southern Dynasties."
"If we continue the fight, you will still suffer the consequences, General."
Zhou Shizhong looked at Yu Zhenzi with a dark face, and said in a hoarse voice: "Zhou may not understand these principles that the Taoist Master said. Zhou also said just now that if the fight continues, I will have no way to explain it to His Majesty."
He said in a low voice: "My father's many years of achievements cannot be cut off in my hands!"
Zhou Shizhong's words are very simple.
If the Yongping Emperor is not satisfied, he, as the general of the Southern Army, will be done. At that time, the Zhou family will have no choice but to return to Yandu. Even if he can still get an official position, the "family's decline" will almost be It is inevitable that in one or two generations, it will completely decline.
When the time comes, he might have to be a slave to Old Zhu Lizhen again.
This is something Zhou Shizhong absolutely cannot accept.
He looked at Yu Zhenzi and said in a hoarse voice: "Taoist Master, you have always been the one making suggestions since you arrived at Huaihe..."
When Yu Zhenzi heard this, he immediately frowned.
Obviously, Zhou Shizhong was not prepared to let him stay out of the matter, and he was trying to drag him into the water.
The Yandu Demon Dao was silent for a while, stroked his beard, looked at Zhou Shizhong quietly, and suddenly smiled: "Who said that the general can't explain?"
Zhou Shizhong frowned, looked at Yu Zhenzi, and said nothing.
Yu Zhenzi continued: "This time, my king's army crossed the river and attacked the southerners. In Huai'an Prefecture, we killed tens of thousands of enemies and returned victorious."
Zhou Shizhong exhaled a breath and said in a low voice: "Taoist priest wants to falsely claim military merit?"
Yuzhenzi smiled and said: "Didn't the Fourth Prince cope with it in the same way last year? Now, it's just a repeat of the Fourth Prince's story."
Hearing this sentence, Zhou Shizhong frowned.
Last year, Wei Wang Zhao Kai did falsely report military merit, and he also killed good people and took credit for it. This matter was a top secret. Only Zhou Shizhong, Zhao Kai and a few people knew about it. The Yandu court did not make an issue of it anymore. It's over.
But Yuzhenzi actually knew this!
He knew it, which meant that Emperor Yongping already knew it.
Zhou Shizhong's voice was hoarse: "The fourth prince is the fourth prince, and we are us."
What he meant was that the fourth prince Zhao Kai was the emperor's biological son after all. Even if he did something wrong, the emperor would just turn a blind eye and turn a blind eye.
But outsiders like them had no way to compare with the Fourth Prince.
Yuzhenzi narrowed his eyes and said quietly: "That's not what the general said."
"The fourth prince is also a minister of Da Qi. We can do everything they do."
"The key is whether the court needs us to do this."
The evil spirit looked around to make sure there was no one else in the tent, and then whispered: "Your Majesty can't afford to lose face, so he has to fight this battle. In fact, your Majesty and the ministers in the court may not want to fight. This battle.”
"So, we just need to win."
"As for how we won, or even whether we won or not, it doesn't matter, and no one will care."
The meaning of this evil way is that Emperor Yongping just needs a step down, just give him a step. As for whether there is any lining on this step, it doesn't matter.
Just have some face.
When Zhou Shizhong heard this, his breathing became a little rapid. He took several deep breaths and said in a hoarse voice: "Taoist Master, if this is pursued, it will be the crime of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan."
Yu Zhenzi lowered his head and took a sip of wine: "I have been with you for more than twenty years."
General Zhou's face was expressionless: "The Taoist priest is alone, but Zhou has a large family."
Yu Zhenzi raised his head and drank the wine in one gulp. After he finished the glass of wine, he looked at Zhou Shizhong quietly.
"General, if His Majesty pursues you for this matter, and even kills your entire Zhou family, how will this matter end?"
"Send people to the Huaihe River again to fight to the death with the Southerners?"
"Just one Shen Qi, how many people are needed to chew it?"
"When I ascended the throne, the situation was already clear."
Yu Zhenzi exhaled a breath and said: "Daqi no longer has the strength to go south. Now it is just a quarrel for face. Your Majesty is already at this age. Do you really have the energy to continue fighting?"
"You report your merits to the court, that's the best outcome."
"Whether it is His Majesty, the ministers in the court, the soldiers below, or even the people of the Southern Dynasty, they are all willing to accept this result."
"Have you not seen it yet, General?"
Yu Zhenzi said softly: "There are already complaints in the army."
Zhou Shizhong covered his forehead with both hands, still hesitant.
"I…"
"Need to think again."
"Not urgent."
Yu Zhenzi stood up, saluted Zhou Shizhong, and said with a smile: "Generally, it takes two or three days to clean the battlefield. The general can think about it for two days. When he makes a decision, it will not be too late to report it to the court."
The demon turned around and walked towards the outside of the tent. When he reached the entrance of the tent, he looked back at Zhou Shizhong with a calm expression.
"When the general calms down and thinks about it, he will be able to understand that this path may not be the best among many, but the only one."
After saying this, Yu Zhenzi turned and left.
Zhou Shizhong angrily hit the table with his fist and roared.
"Shen Qi!!"
…………
On the south bank, Xiangshui Camp.
After a few days, some finishing work finally came to an end. Most of the Northern Qi soldiers lost on the south bank surrendered and were captured by the Huai'an army. A small number of those who resisted were killed on the spot.
In the past few days, Shen Yi was mainly busy treating the wounded and doing some aftermath work.
After three or four days of busy work, good news came from Wanzhong.
As the Qi people retreated, the elite Qi people on the East China Sea coast also lost their will to fight. They retreated from the sea by boat and stopped attacking Huai'an Prefecture.
The Western Front also sent good news. Ling Su and the others repelled the Qi people on the Western Front with more than 2,000 casualties, leaving more than 3,000 Qi people behind.
At this point, the large-scale war in the early winter of Hongde's twelfth year has come to an end for the time being.
Shen Yi stayed in Xiangshui Camp for several days, and the rescue work in the injured camp was finally over.
The meaning of the end is that those who can bear it survive, and those who cannot bear it will return to the land of Huai'an.
In the past few days, Shen Yi sent several memorials to Jiankang, reporting the causes and consequences of the Huai'an war to His Majesty the Emperor.
After he finished writing his last memorial, all the pigs, cattle and sheep from Huai'an Prefecture also rushed to Xiangshui Camp. Xue Wei was so excited that he personally led people to kill cattle and sheep.
Of course, these cows are injured or sick.
All in all, they are cattle that cannot plow the land.
Otherwise, the government would not kill him.
As for how these cows were injured or sick, that is not the government's business.
There were hundreds of cauldrons set up in Xiangshui Camp.
As all kinds of meat were put into the pot, the aroma filled the air, and the sad atmosphere in the camp was bid farewell to some joy and laughter.
Zhang Jian and Shen Yi fought side by side. Looking at the scene in the Xiangshui camp, he smiled and said, "It's really lively."
Mr. Shen sighed slightly.
"original…"
"It should be more lively."
(End of chapter)
